PHILADELPHIA, PA - The La Salle Explorers (8-9, 1-3) came back with a vengeance tonight, shooting their way to a 19 point victory over visiting New Jersey Institute of Technology (3-15). Freshman Rodney Green (Philadelphia, PA/Prep Charter) led the way yet again with 18 points and eight rebounds, along with Ruben Guillandeaux's (Brooklyn, NY/St. Patrick's) own 12 points.

Jersey Tech started off the show with a jumper from junior Kraig Peters to go up 2-0. That would be the Highlanders only lead of the night, however, as two stolen possessions led to 4 unanswered points, giving La Salle the gate to take over. While only scoring eight points in the game, Darnell Harris (Baltimore, MD/St. Frances) made his count, pushing the Explorer lead to 20 points with each of his three-pointers.

The Highlanders tried to get a hold of the game several times in the second half, led by Peters' 18 points and senior Clayton Barker's 16. With 10:41 left in the game and the score 58-50 the Explorers went on a 16-4 run that finished with a devastating rebound dunk from Yves Mekongo Mbala (Elizabeth, NJ/St. Patrick's). Mekongo Mbala finished with perfect shooting, going 4-4 from the floor and 2-2 from the stripe. His 10 points and eight rebounds made him just one of three Explorers who closed in on a double-double, each of them just two rebounds shy before running out of time.

Sophomore walk-on Brad Cohen (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern) was able to get five shots up in just over a minute before capping scoring with a three-point play on a bucket and free throw with 1.1 seconds left to close out the 78-59 victory.

The Explorers move on to host their final non-conference game of the season this Thursday when they take on Big 5 rival University of Pennsylvania. Game time is scheduled for 7:00PM.